Found this great project by Cambridge University today on Twitter, via a friend (I forget who, sorry). Basically, they had a bunch of personal-sized whiteboards and asked passers-by (presumably students in the main) why they needed feminism. The results are obvious, shocking, enlightening, and heart-breaking, and seriously, you should go have a look right now. Here’s the link.
At the end of the images is a tiny little link to the facebook page, whereon there are heaps more of the images – here, if you’re interested.
Seriously. You should go read them. They are highly awesome and not at all anti-men, I promise. Plenty of males participated willingly 🙂
But anyway, to close, here are my contributions, all more or less inspired by real live events (though not necessarily personally experienced).
I need feminism because my son should be allowed to wear pink, enjoy sparkly jewellery, and love headbands without anyone questioning his sexuality.
(He’s 16 months old, to clarify.)
I need feminism because someone’s housekeeping skills should not be relevant to their job unless they’re applying to be a housekeeper.
(And certainly not the most prominent part of a job-related ‘magazine’ interview!)
I need feminism because I’ve been on the internet.
(Read the comments on some of the Cambridge pics on facebook. ‘Nuff said.)
I need feminism because having hairy legs/underarms/bikini lines is not “unhygienic” o.O
(This one’s verbatim true. The terror.)
I need feminism because no one asks whether a man can ‘have it all’.
(Yes, totes stole that one from facebook, but !!)
And finally, I need feminism because no average-sized fifteen-year-old girl’s Most Major Life Goal should be ‘Lose 10 more centimetres’.
(Sob.)
Chime in, if you feel so inclined. Why do YOU need feminism? 🙂
ETA: A friend posted this on my facebook wall: a whole Tumblr of them.
(A real final one: I need feminism because I was afraid to show the campaign to my husband for fear of his reaction. Luckily, he once again proved that I got a good one ;))
I need feminism because moving out of a 16 year violent relationship shouldn’t have made me feel guilty. It shouldn’t have happened in the first place. I need feminism to really believe that.
I also need feminism because I study in a male dominated academic area. Each semester we have a ‘token gender week.’ I need feminism because I study war and conflict and gendered representations of these topics is important. I need feminism because you cannot create peace from conflict without including women. I NEED feminism because the (men) who I study with think it’s both humous and absurd to study and write about the role of women in peace and conflict. When they do, they try to make it into a joke. I need feminism because there’s one man in my class who likes to make himself look ‘tough’ and like he doesn’t care about gender representation, but you can sit down and have an intellectual discussion about the topic and he’ll be on my side, but only when it’s just us talking. There are only 9 women as academic staff in my college, and this frustrates me. It frustrates me that, because I’m a woman, I’m seen by my tutor as being a ‘soft security school thinker’, when I’m actually not. Basically, I need feminism because I need to see more women in my area of study and I need to see women included in peace building processes. Note: this is likely to be my Honours topic (if I do Honours…)
*applause*. That is all.
Well, that and I’d really like to read your thesis if you end up writing one, and writing on that O:) *hugs*
You would read my thesis?!?!?!? That would/could be amazing (if I ended up doing it)!
Sure! I mean, I couldn’t promise I would read it in a timely fashion, because despite my best intentions, I am never as fast as I think I should be (just ask Liana, ha), but yes! I would be interested in reading it :o)